BMW Group South Africa (SA) on Thursday marked the start of construction of a new bodyshop at its Rosslyn plant, in Tshwane.

The group acquired a roughly 33 000 m² site adjacent to the plant for the new building, said BMW Group SA plant director Stefan Huelsenberg at a sod-turning ceremony at the facility.

German car maker BMW announced last year that it would invest R6-billion at its South African plant to produce the next-generation X3 sports-utility vehicle (SUV) for the local and export markets.

The 48-year-old plant has assembled four generations of 3 Series since 1994, with the sixth iteration of the sedan currently in production outside Pretoria.

In 2015, 3 Series production reached 71 353 units, with a record 65 744 units exported. It was not yet clear what volumes X3 assembly would reach.

The investment to build a completely new model at the Rosslyn plant required installing new technology on the production line; lifting the roof to accommodate production of the X3, which is bulkier and longer compared with the 3 Series; a revamp of the paint shop; establishing a new technical training centre and information technology backup centre; as well as building a new bodyshop, said Huelsenberg.

At 26 000 m², the new bodyshop would be almost 50% bigger than the current bodyshop. There would also be an almost 50% increase in the numbers of robots in the facility, at around 300 units

Employment in the bodyshop, however, was set to grow, despite increased automation.

The bodyshop was being constructed by Stefanutti Stocks. The building would be handed over to BMW Group SA in the first half of next year.

Huelsenberg said the Rosslyn plant’s old bodyshop would become a logistics area.

“The new bodyshop will be in the ideal location in terms of production flow,” he added.

BMW Group SA MD Tim Abbott noted on Thursday that his company would assume responsibility for eleven key markets in sub-Saharan Africa as from the middle of the year.

He regarded the X3, with its higher ground clearance, as an ideal export product to the rest of the continent.

He added that one in three cars sold in the world today was a SUV-type vehicle, and that it was set to overtake sedan sales “soon”.